Always Running From The End Of Days

Happy Birthday!

I step out into the light of day, so much light that it blinds me. I put my hand up in front of my face to stop the sudden light from reaching my eyes. "Damn, I can't see a thing!" I say, looking at Christina.

She chuckles. "You have to just give it a few seconds, your vision will go back to it's normal state and you'll be fine." Still holding onto the hand that I hadn't thrown up to cover my eyes.

"You told your dad, didn't you?" I ask, knowing that she must have. Especially because of the way he had looked at her, before he left the room. I see her start to look down, but I bring my hand down to stop her from moving any further down. "It's okay, as long as he approves." I smile.

She smiles at that and then leans in to what looks like another kiss, so I close my eyes as I'm getting closer. "Not in front of your sister." She gives off a little laugh as she teases me and whispers this in my ear.

I snap back to reality and look down at Grace, staring at Christina and I. "Hey kiddo, what's happening." I smile down at her.

"Micky. Guess what tomorrow is!" She says, smiling happily. 

I go through all of my thoughts and then remember that one week from my birthday was Grace's birthday, she was turning 10 already! "I wouldn't forget about tomorrow, it's your birthday!" 

"Yay! I know it's difficult to ask for, but.... No, just forget it.... I don't want anything to happen to you....." She says, sadness filling her eyes. 

"What? Go on kiddo, can't be any worse than what I've gone through."

"Well.... I always had that Teddy Bear you gave me for my 6th birthday and... Well, I never grabbed it when we left the house that day.... But it's okay, I'm a big girl, I don't need it...." She says, putting her head down and starting to walk away.

I feel bad for her as she walks away. "Seems like it really meant something to her." I hear Christina say. 

I look over at her. "Yeah, she always wanted one when she was five. I bought it for her on her sixth birthday and she fell in love with it. Always slept with the damn thing at night, but I guess it's the small things that count." I say, thinking of a plan to get her a new one.

"Oh...." Christina pauses, looking over at Grace and then looking back at me. "Let's go find my dad and Tom." 

"Good idea." She pulls me, leading me to Jim and Tom as I let my eyes get used to the light of day once more.

We arrive at the fence, already there's a couple of dead walker bodies stuck on it. I see Jim and Tom standing and looking at it. 

"What the hell's going on here?" I ask, looking at the both of them.

Jim looks over at Christina and I, sees both of us holding hands and gives a smile. "We're trying to figure out how in the hell these things just keep coming."

"Seems like there are more and more coming each day. I think they're coming in clumps too, not all of them, but I've seen groups of them just traveling slowly and together." Tom says, looking over at Christina and I.

"Well, that just means we're going to have to be extra careful with making too much noise or we'll attract even more." I warn.

"Exactly, but that's going to be a problem if we run into trouble with a couple more walkers. And even then, who knows how long we can go without killing these fuckers with guns if we don't get any more quiet weapons." Tom says.

"Well." Jim stops, looking as though he is thinking.

"Well... What?" I ask, confused.

"It's risky, but it's the only thing I got..." Jim, pausing again. "There's a warehouse not too far down the road. It's packed with all sorts of things. Food, Ammo, Water, Toys, etc."